India won the series decider by 78 runs with the help of a maiden ODI Hundred by Sanju Samson and a 4-wicket haul by Arshdeep Singh.
On a pitch where the ball was stopping and gripping, Sanju Samson along with Tilak Verma forged a match-winning partnership of 116 runs and with some late strikes by Rinku Singh India could manage a score of 296 runs for 8 wickets which was always going to be difficult to chase for the hosts. Except for Tony De Zorzi’s 81 runs, none of the South African batters could score a fifty and the entire South African team bundled out at 218 runs and thereby, losing the match by 78 runs.
The player of the tournament Arshdeep Singh equalled Brett Lee’s 22-year-old record after he took 4 wickets for 30 runs in the match. He took a fifer in the first ODI of the series as well and with a 4-wicket haul in the series decider, he became only the second visiting quick bowler in the history of ODI cricket to have taken the most 4-plus wicket hauls in a bilateral series in SA.
Not only that, Arshdeep Singh’s 10 wickets across the three matches is the second most by an India quick in a bilateral ODI series in South Africa, after Munaf Patel’s 11 in 2010/11. He became the first Indian pacer to take the Most 4-plus wicket hauls for IND vs SA in ODIs.
This is only the second instance of India defeating South Africa in South Africa in ODIs since 1992. The last time India won an ODI series in South Africa against South Africa was in the 2017/18 season when India won 5-1.
With yesterday’s win, India finished the year as the team who won the second most number of ODIs (27 ODIs) in a calendar year. Only Australia has won it more than India in a calendar year i.e. 30 ODIs in 2003.
